I think maybe that SE should just stick to it's strength: Being the Hipster/kitschy NPR of Foodland, this is a noble effort, but this is starting to be a major bummer.

People don't eat Faux meat or anything because they want to replicate the EXACT tastes and sensations of the "real thing," these faux products exist as their own entities. I can assure you that, at least to me, I truly don't eat a Boca burger because I want to replicate the flavor and sensations of, say, eating that awesome cheeseburger at the beach food stand every Saturday growing up, I eat them because its a comforting, awesome sandwich with it's own flavor- essentially its own sensation and source of nourishment in its own right.

Yes, I get it, faux products are processed, sometimes bad for the environment (hexane, the killing of field mice and other fauna in clearing wheat fields to make gluten out of, etc), but please, that is a poor justification for trying to even compare the destruction the meat industry is doing to the environment (that scene in Food, Inc.where they show the damage to the Mississippi and Gulf of Mexico because of the corn pesticide runoff to harvest enough corn to feed to cows, who only eat grass...anyway) in comparison to say, a few Soy burger factories scattered across the North American continent. Not even mentioning the fact that you tried to catagorize vegans into environmental/moral/health vegans, when in reality, aside from the "rules" (some eat honey, some don't, some wear silk, some don't, etc) veganism is it's own subjective experience for every single person involved.

Too much is getting caught up in the negatives of this "experiment", if anything what I'm getting from this is that it's a patronizing quasi-experiment ultimately leading to some kind of "informed" end result that was really a self-fufilling prophecy from the get go, considering, 1. you are a carnivore 2. have said repeatedly in your posts and other food lab experiments how much you detest the concept of "fake anything".

I don't go on this site so that I can read some dude who knows the ins and outs of every animal and how to prepare said in and outs of every animal (in awesome and frankly, pretty interesting ways) attempt to be vegan without a completely open mind.

Yes, some Vegan pizzas and other items take some getting used to, like a TON of other things. I'm not eating that fake cheese on a frozen vegan za because I want some revelatory experience, I'm doing it for myself/to try to stop killing animals/to help the planet.

I mean come on, this entire website is about indulgence, in fact the only point of SE/Drinks/Slice/sweets/any other site connected to SE is in the name of indulgence, nothing more, nothing less. Yes, in some instances there's an article about a sustainable farm on a Brooklyn roof somewhere. But come on, being a foodie seems to me, for the most part, in making the most delicious and awesome thing you can possibly make, and taking cute pictures of it.

I mean what was the point of this "experiment?" To try to incite the 80-90% of upper middle class yuppy-lite people that comment here to come up with clever passive-aggressive insults on veganism that are based on "My friend used to do this and I thought his/her food was gross?"

Doesn't really seem like there was an open minded approach. Yeah, great, you try to abstain from processed anything, fake anything, great, good for you, but the majority of everyone, carnivore, omnivore, vegan, or whatever-a-vore, have to sometimes eat processed stuff, making this entire "experiement" just some sort of cute patronizing joke.

Don't get me wrong Kenji, you are one of the biggest reasons I even come on here. I was at first, really psyched about this. But now, I'm really counting down the days when you do another burger bender, or try to replicate some crazy fast food item in your kitchen.

The beef/meat industry damages more waterways in the US than any other industry in the US, and, you're assuming ALL vegans eat nothing but processed foods. Some foods that are considered processed are pretty simple to "process" on your own. How damaging is it to the environment to press soybeans into tofu, the oldest "processed" food?

Now, I know what you mean, but whatever, to vegans, processed food can be processed all it wants, as long as it didn't contribute to animal suffering, then it is fine.

I have come out of retirement to post this! Kenji! Hell yeah! This must be the year of the Apocalypse...I open this page and see that you are going vegan! Heck yeah!

Don't listen to anyone on here, the most important part of being vegan for any vegan is that it starts as a PERSONAL choice. It's just coincidental that you're probably helping out the environment, animals, and yourself in the process.

Also, be prepared to ask what the ingredients are in everything(unless you do go to a vegan restaraunt) if you plan on being super stringent.

Yeah Woozle, Sprouts and Tofu is so unhealthy, sheesh. What planet are you from? If you love eating chicken so much, go post on the Korean Fried Chicken post! Nasoya, one of the biggest producers of Tofu, strictly use NON GMO soybeans in their Tofu.

Don't you realize chickens in general are genetically modified? They break their legs under their own weight! They've been engineered! But I certainly don't go on posts about chicken and act like a frightened 8 year old. Go bully yourself. And maybe realize that while chicken has a ton of protein, it has far more fat and cholesterol than sprouts and tofu. What vitamins does chicken have over sprouts?

"Do all chefs think their vegetarian customers only want to eat fried foods, mac and cheese, and salad every time they go out to dinner? Or do they care?"

What? Every one of your articles focuses mainly on this! Almost every food you try is dairy-rich/fried vegetables. At least that's what it seems to be. You could try more traditional vegetarian places, like foodswings, VPII, Red bamboo, kate's....other than fancy pants restaurants with mac n cheese and cheese and cheese and cheese and cheese in their menus.

I recently had stuffed gnocchi at a restaurant and have been itching to recreate the dish at home, with my own little twists of course. I decided to stuff my homemade gnocchi with pieces of Nabulsi cheese, which is Persian... More